Blue and White Pages: Documenting the History of Israel

October 7, 2008-March 14, 2009Location: Weinstein Gallery, Ruth Youth WingCurator: Ido Bruno, Yigal Zalmona, and Inbal LizorikMedia: Documents, manuscripts, objectsThe Israel Museum presented an exhibition of historical documents, most of which were from the collection of the State Archive. The documents on display included Israel’s original Declaration of Independence, peace agreements with Jordan and Egypt, and seminal documents from the collection of the Israel Museum and the Israel Antiquities Authority, such as original letters by legendary Jewish leader Simon Bar Kochba, and Albert Einstein's manuscript on the Theory of Relativity. Also on display, for the first time, was the diary of Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut to travel into space, who died in the Columbia shuttle disaster along with six American crew members in February 2003.